Parish Council vows to continue fight against new County HQ

The City of Durham Parish Council vows to continue the fight against Durham County Council’s proposed new Council Headquarters being built on the Sands in the centre of Durham. The news comes following notification that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire MP will not be calling in the application.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council, Cllr Elizabeth Scott said, “though we are extremely disappointed by the Secretary of State’s decision not to call in this application, the City of Durham Parish Council will continue to fight all the way. The County Council has got it completely wrong and we will do everything we can to ensure that the objections of thousands of local residents, market traders, businesses and other organisations are listened to. The impact of the proposed new £50m County HQ on our much-loved World Heritage site, our local amenity, traffic flows, parking and our environment will be hugely damaging.”
In addition to a call-in request from the City of Durham Parish Council, a local change.org campaign amongst residents requesting that the Secretary of State call in the application had reached over 4,700 signatures.
Despite overwhelming local opposition to the plans, Durham County Council’s planning committee voted 8-6 on 5th March in favour of moving County Hall from its current home at Aykley Heads to a new building based on the current Sands car park.
The Secretary of State does have the power to take the decision-making power on a planning application out of the hands of the local planning authority by calling it in for his own determination. However, in their correspondence to the Parish Council, the National Planning Casework Unit advised that, “the Government remains committed to giving more power to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning issues and believe that planning decisions should be made at the local level wherever possible. The call-in policy makes it clear that the power to call in a case will only be used very selectively. The Secretary of State has decided, having had regard to this policy, not to call in this application. He is satisfied that the application should be determined at a local level.”
Councillor Elizabeth Scott countered: “The most local level is our City of Durham Parish Council. We decided that putting the new County Council headquarters on The Sands would be a huge mistake. So, we fight on.”